游戏《中国式家长》：让你做一次“虎爸虎妈”(2)

政府实行了几十年的独生子女政策，这意味着中国的男孩或女孩肩负着父母向往美好生活的全部重任。政府对人口的控制已有所放松（不过这个游戏里的孩子没有兄弟姐妹），经济增长也为人们创造了更多的发展机会。在高考中取得好成绩不再是通向光明未来的唯一途径。如今的父母可能更想知道，过多的压力是否会让孩子变成情绪低落的机器人。但是，财富的激增也提高了人们对职业成功的预期，并为富裕家庭提供了新方式，可以让他们的孩子跑在前面。蔡美儿(Amy Chua)的《虎妈战歌》(Battle Hymn of The Tiger Mother)曾让人们广泛关注高压教育方式，这种方式在中国并未消失，而是在慢慢改变。

In Chinese Parents, a virtual child’s life unfolds over 48 rounds. In each round, players arrange courses and activities — piano lessons, swim classes, creative writing, coding and more. You can also buy gifts: ice cream, toys, even “Learn to Speak With Jack Ma,” a book featuring the billionaire co-founder of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

在《中国式家长》中，虚拟孩子的生活在48轮游戏中展开。在每一轮中，玩家要给孩子安排课程和活动——钢琴课、游泳课、创意写作、编程等等。你也可以给孩子买礼物：冰激凌、玩具，甚至是《跟马云学口才》，这本书的主角是中国电子商务巨头阿里巴巴的联合创始人、亿万富翁马云。

祖母可能会不时出现，提供一些关于性别的过时观点。“当初听我的生儿子就没这么多事儿。” MOYUWAN GAMES

These choices shape how your child develops along six dimensions: intelligence, emotional intelligence, physical fitness, imagination, memory and charm.

这些选择将塑造你的孩子在六个方面的发展：智商、情商、体魄、想象力、记忆力，以及魅力。

A bar on the screen reflects how much psychological pressure the child is feeling. Pile on too much schoolwork, and the child may crack. But don’t let your score for “parental satisfaction” fall too low, either. Another score captures the concept of “face,” supremely important in Chinese culture. If a child loses face by doing badly in school, a summer trip to Europe could be canceled.

屏幕上有图表，反映孩子的心理压力 。给他太多的功课，孩子可能会垮掉。但也不要让你的“家长满意度”分数降得太低。还有一个分数体现的是“面子”这个概念，面子在中国文化中极为重要。如果孩子因为在学校表现不好丢了面子，暑假去欧洲的旅行就可能会被取消。

Over time, adolescent love bubbles up. How far does that go? Let it just be said that Chinese censors do not abide video games considered less than wholesome.

孩子长大了，会有青春期的爱情问题。游戏中的爱情走到哪一步？我们只能说，中国的审查者不会容忍被认为不健康的电子游戏。

A child’s final scores determine what happens after she leaves home. There are more than 200 colleges, including vocational schools and elite universities, that might offer a spot. The socially adept have their pick of compatible mates. There are myriad career possibilities: taxi driver, celebrity author, e-commerce mogul, Beyoncé.

孩子的最终分数决定了离开父母后会发生什么。游戏中有200多所学院，包括职业学校和精英大学，孩子可能进入其中之一。善于社交的人可以挑选合适的伴侣。有各种可能的职业：出租车司机、著名作家、电子商务巨头，还可以成为碧昂斯(Beyoncé)。

The earliest version of Chinese Parents gave players only the option of raising a son. In the current version, those who choose to have a daughter get reminders about attitudes that remain common in China. Her virtual grandmother says girls don’t need to do as well as boys in school. Her mother says that for a girl, the ultimate goal of hard work is to marry a good man.

在较早版本的《中国式家长》中，玩家只有养儿子的选择。在目前的版本中，选择养女儿的会得到提醒，内容是中国仍然普遍存在的观念。女儿的虚拟奶奶会说，女孩子在学校里用不着学得和男孩子一样好。女儿的母亲会说，对一个女孩来说，努力工作最终是为了嫁得好。

After playing Chinese Parents, Mr. Kang, the blogger in Qinhuangdao, showed it to someone who ought to be an authority on Chinese parents: his mother, Zang Wenru.He uploaded a video of his mother playing the game to the streaming platform Bilibili. It has been viewed more than 590,000 times.

玩了《中国式家长》后，秦皇岛的博客作者康生浩请了一个应该对中国父母很懂行的人来玩这个游戏：他的母亲臧文茹（音）。他把妈妈玩游戏的视频上传到了流媒体平台Bilibili上。这段视频的浏览量已经超过了59万次。

“We want to make decisions that we think are best for our kids, and to help them avoid detours,” said Ms. Zang, 51, who works in a hotel. “But I think what many seem to forget is that every step counts in life, even the detours. We all used to be Chinese kids, too, with thoughts that we want to be respected.”